1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to carpentry devices and, more particularly, to devices especially adapted for aiding a person in installing a hinge on a door.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the field of carpentry, one task which occurs often is the installation of a hinge on a door. Often the door is made of wood and the hinge-receiving edge of the door is a smooth surface out of which a quantity of wood must be cut to provide a space, or mortise, for the door-mounted portion of the hinge. In a prior art method of providing a mortise on an edge of a door, an outline of the mortise is scribed, and a quantity of wood is chiseled out of the door edge within the confines of the outlined scribed area. Several disadvantages may result from using the above-mentioned prior art method. The chisel may not be properly aligned with the outlined scribed area. Moreover, the depth at which the chisel penetrates the edge of the door is difficult to control. As a result, the chiseled out mortise region may have a rough edge and an uneven lower surface. In this respect, it would be desirable for an apparatus to be provided which permits a mortise region for an edge of a door to have a smooth edge and an even lower surface.
Throughout the years, a number of innovations have been developed relating to providing mortises on door edges, and the following U.S. Pat. Nos. are representative of some of those innovations: 5,067,537; 5,072,488; 5,146,961; 5,154,214; and 5,219,011. More specifically, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,067,537, 5,146,961, and 5,154,214 disclose jigs mounted on doors which provide a guide for a router to cut out a mortise. Yet, none of these jig devices provides a manually operated cutting device for cutting an outline of mortise. Moreover, none of these jig devices provides a manually powered cutting device for cutting out a quantity of wood to provide the mortise. In this respect, it would be desirable for an apparatus to provide a manually operated cutting device for cutting an outline of a mortise. In addition, it would be desirable for an apparatus to provide a manually powered cutting device for cutting out a quantity of wood to provide the mortise.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,072,488 may be of interest for its disclosure of a method and apparatus for mounting hinges to a door frame. U.S. Pat. No. 5,219,011 may also be of interest for its disclosure of a table-like hinge slotting machine that accommodates power tools for cutting hinge slots and requires a door to be laid upon the table-like machine.
Still other features would be desirable in a hinge mortise cutter apparatus. For cutting out wood from a door edge to provide a mortise, the prior art provides the use of either a chisel that is struck by a hammer or an electrically powered router. A chisel that is struck by a hammer is hard to control because it is hard to control the percussive force of the hammer on the chisel. An electrically powered router may be inconvenient in many locations where electric power is not readily available. In this respect, it would be desirable for an apparatus to be provided which permits a mortise region for an edge of a door to be cut without the use of a chisel that is struck by a hammer. Moreover, it would be desirable for an apparatus to be provided which permits a mortise region for an edge of a door to be cut without using an electrically powered router.
A screw is an easily controlled, force-multiplying, simple machine. As such, it would be desirable if a screw could be utilized for controlling cutting out of wood from a door edge to provide a mortise for a hinge.
As stated above, providing a mortise for a door hinge requires providing an outline and cutting out the mortise. Because these two operations go hand in hand, it would be desirable for a kit to be provided that includes both apparatus for providing a mortise outline and apparatus for cutting the mortise out of the door edge.
Thus, while the foregoing body of prior art indicates it to be well known to use jigs for cutting out mortises on the edge of a door, the prior art described above does not teach or suggest a hinge mortise cutter apparatus which has the following combination of desirable features: (1) enables a mortise region for an edge of a door to have a smooth edge and an even lower surface; (2) provides a manually operated cutting device for cutting an outline of a mortise; (3)provides a manually powered cutting device for cutting out a quantity of wood to provide the mortise; (4) permits a mortise region for an edge of a door to be cut without the use of a chisel that is struck by a hammer; (5) permits a mortise region for an edge of a door to be cut without using an electrically powered router; (6) utilizes a screw for cutting out wood from a door edge to provide a mortise; and (7) provides a kit that includes both apparatus for providing a mortise outline and apparatus for curing the mortise out of the door edge. The foregoing desired characteristics are provided by the unique hinge mortise cutter apparatus of the present invention as will be made apparent from the following description thereof. Other advantages of the present invention over the prior art also will be rendered evident.